


and it was all yellow

by ineffablystyles



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Minor Violence, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 15:13:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18368621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffablystyles/pseuds/ineffablystyles
Summary: Diego Hargreeves didn't want a soulmate; never thought he'd have a soulmate.So of course, he meets her when he least expects it.





	and it was all yellow

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!

Diego stared down at his fist, clenching and unclenching them as he thought about Klaus and the roses that covered his left shoulder. They were wilted now, the colour faded from their petals but Diego knew they’d once been beautiful. 

Klaus wasn’t the same either, the blue of his eyes somehow dimmer no matter how sober he was, like a piece of him was missing. 

Diego knew it was because of his soulmate, lost in a war that Klaus should never have even been a part of. He wondered if it was worth it. He knows Klaus thinks it was, that he’d do everything exactly the same way even if he knew his heart would never be whole again. 

But Diego thinks part of that is because of his power, because even though his soulmate is gone, Klaus still has the ability to see him - once he figures out how, of course. 

Diego doesn’t have that same privilege. He knows that once he finds his soulmate - if he finds them - nothing about his life will be the same again. 

He’d thought maybe it would be Patch. And he’d have been fine with that. Ok with the fact that at least he knew  _ her  _ and that if she was in danger, he was usually lurking around the corner anyway. 

But it wasn’t Patch and no matter how many times he’d run his hands over her skin when they were in the academy together, nothing bloomed across her skin. 

So they’d broken up. Partly because Diego didn’t know how to follow any rules and partly because Eudora was still waiting for her soulmate, she still had stars in her eyes for that whirlwind romance that Diego had lost hope in. 

He’d accepted long ago that maybe he didn’t have a soulmate. That if his own father couldn’t love him, how could anyone else. 

He still had Grace, of course, but she was a robot and Diego knew in his heart of hearts that she’d been programmed to make him feel cared for and wanted. That it wasn’t the  _ same _ . And he didn’t get along with his siblings, always fighting with one of them - usually Luther - over  _ something _ pointless.

So he’d settled for being alone and throwing his knives at anyone who’d tried to make him see otherwise. He’d quickly grown bored of sitting at home in the basement of the gym he fought at and started prowling the streets looking for some action and when they’d started calling him The Kraken, he’d settled into the name like an extra layer of armour. 

The night he sees her for the first time he’d almost stayed home. 

He’d had a tough fight the night before with one of the bigger men in the gym and somehow ended up taking a hit he shouldn’t have, leaving his knife throwing arm a little battered. But something had called out to him and he hadn’t been able to sit at home throwing knives at a worn out target. 

So he’d pulled on his leather and tied his knives around his torso with a little more difficulty than usual and set out to roam the streets in search of trouble.

He was sitting up on a fire escape, rubbing at his shoulder while he muttered under his breath about his father and siblings and Vanya’s damn book. He’d read it when it had come out, bitter at some of the things she’d talked about and regretful at others. 

But underneath it all was the slightest bit of pride that she’d managed to overcome the trauma of their childhood. 

“Leave me alone,” a shrill voice interrupted his mutterings and he was brought back to the present. 

“Oh, come on, sweetheart.” A slurred voice followed behind her. 

Diego leaned forward to watch the street below him, eyes instantly catching on her as she passed below him followed by two men twice her size. 

“We’ll give you a good time, I promise,” the second of the men bellowed at her, the first grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her back before she could try to hail a taxi. 

“Let me go,” she glared at him, trying to shake his hold but he only seemed to hold on tighter and Diego watched as she winced in response. 

“Oi! Show some respect,” he said coolly, jumping down from the fire escape and landing swiftly on his feet. 

He walked towards them, fingering one of the knives on his chest fondly. 

“Mind your own business,” the second of the two men growled, stepping in front of the girl and hiding her from Diego’s sight. “We found her.” 

“Rule of law, buddy. Finders keepers,” the other man leered, running a grubby hand down her cheek and grinning when she tried to flinch away. 

“I’m not something you can own,” she spat at him, once again trying to rip away from him but he only seemed to hold on tighter. 

“Let her go,” Diego warned them, feeling a sense of anger settle in his stomach at the way they were treating the girl. 

“Or what? There’s two of us, and one of you, Kraken.” 

Diego fingered his knives once again, itching to use the men as new target practice. But they were too close to the girl and he was loathe to put her in danger, as though anything that would harm her would cause him even more pain. 

Diego didn’t understand the feeling, he just knew that he had to protect her. 

“I’ll give you one more chance,” he warned them, pulling a knife out and twirling it around his fingers as a silent threat. “Let her go.” 

“Fuck off,” the man sneered, taking a step forward. Diego glared at him, eyes flicking over to the girl to make sure she was still ok before flicking his wrist and allowing the knife in his hand to fly towards the man and lodge itself in his thigh. 

He let out a loud howl of pain and fell to to his knees, pulling the knife out of his leg and throwing it back at Diego. He turned away as it sailed past him, watching at the metal glinted under the street lights. 

He felt a calmness settle over his mind as it always did when he fought and he pulled out a second knife, twisting it between his fingers before throwing it at the second man before he could charge him down. 

The knife this time sunk into the man’s arm and he let out a similar scream as the first man. 

Diego ignored him, walking past the two bleeding men and over to the girl. “Are you ok?” he asked her kindly. Kinder than he’d treated anyone before. He began to herd her away from the drunk assholes and over to a place where they were more hidden from the eyes of others. He threw another two knives behind him, each one meeting their mark on the two men, preventing them from following as they walked away.

“I’m fine,” she nodded, jumping a little at how close he was walking beside her. 

She glanced up at him, her eyes catching his for a moment before drifting to the way he was slumping towards his uninjured side. “Are you ok?” she asked him with a frown. 

“I’m fine,” he grunted, rubbing at his shoulder again. “Just stiff.” he added when she continued to look worried. 

“Thank you, by the way,” she said gratefully, even as she continued to eye the way he was running his injured arm. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up,” she told him. “Are you sure you’re ok? Here, let me.” She reached over before he could jump away from her and took hold of his left hand and pulled him towards her. 

Neither of them expected the jolt of burning electricity to pass through them, or the sudden burst of colour that sprouted on their hands as sunflowers bloomed a brilliant yellow. 

“You…” Diego looked up at her, shock colouring his features as she started back at him with wide eyes. “This isn’t happening,” he muttered, stepping away from her. 

“I don’t understand.” Was all she said, her hand still clasped between his own and no one told Diego that soulmarks were so  _ bright  _ or that they could hurt  _ so much.  _ “You’re my soulmate?” She asked quietly. 

Diego wondered why she looked so scared and then he remembered Vanya’s book and how she’d spoken of soulmates and why some of her siblings didn’t care for them. 

He’d told them all long ago that he hoped he’d never meet his soulmate and if he did he’d probably reject them, but that was when he’d thought he didn’t  _ have  _ one. 

But here she was, staring up at him with clear eyes and her face covered in shadows as she waited for him to turn her away. 

“I didn’t think you existed,” he murmured, clasping onto her hand tighter. He stared at the sunflowers for a moment as they flowers brighter the closer he got to her. “I was hoping I’d never meet you,” he admitted even though he knew he shouldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I’ll...I’ll go.” 

“No!” He yelled, louder than he should have, as he pulled her even closer to his chest. “Do-don’t g-g-go,” he forced the words out. He blushed at the way his stutter slipped out, something that only came out when he was nervous or scared or sad. 

But her eyes merely softened and Diego tried to picture the words in his head before he spoke them, just like how his mum had taught him. “I’m Diego.” 

“Y/n,” she said, smiling up at him. “Your soulmate. God, that sounds weird.” 

Diego snorted. “Yeah,” he agreed, tugging on her hand and trying to get her to get moving again. 

“Where are we going?” she asked him, easily following along behind him as he lead her through silent alleys. 

“Home.” 

“Home? But I live on that side of town.” She pointed back in the opposite direction. 

“Not anymore you don’t,” Diego shrugged, unwilling to leave her alone for even a moment now that he’d found her.

“What? Diego, I can’t just leave my life behind,” she tried to pull away from him and turn back. 

“I’m not leaving you to go home alone after what almost happened tonight.

“But all my stuff is back there! You didn’t even want a soulmate before tonight!” she burst out, trying to once again pull her hand away. She had  _ definitely _ read Vanya’s book. 

“That was before I found you! It was easier to pretend I didn’t want a soulmate in case I never found one!” he tried to explain. “I never thought I’d have a soulmate, didn’t think I deserved one. And then my brother went and found his soulmate and they  _ died _ . I can’t let that happen to you.” 

“I’m just going back to my apartment,” she said gently. “It’s only a couple of blocks away.”

“I’ll take you there tomorrow. Tonight you’re staying with me . It’s not safe to be out alone when it’s so late.”

“I’ll be fine,” she sighed, exasperated. “I do this all the time.”

“No. You won’t. Once people find out you’re my soulmate, you’re going to be in  _ danger _ . Do you not understand that?” he snarled at her, wrapping one arm around her neck and forcing her to look up at him. “You’re going to be in danger because of  _ me _ and what if I’m too late and don’t get there in time?” he demanded. 

“Diego,” she began quietly, only to be cut off by his lips. 

And then he was kissing her like it was the first time, the last time and every moment in between. He tried to push all his thoughts into the kiss, trying to tell her that he didn’t know what he was doing or how he was going to do them. He kissed her as though she held all the answers to every question he’d ever asked of the universe.

He kissed her like someone who’d been starved of love for most of his life and didn’t know what to do now that he’d found it. 

His hand slipped higher into her hair, trying to angle her head so that she was tilting back for him as he urged her to open up. Which she did willingly. Both of them too consumed with one another to even notice the way the sunflowers on their hands burned bright with colour as they danced across their skin. 

When he finally pulled away from her and she looked up at him, their foreheads resting together, she felt content and Diego felt whole. 

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted. “I don’t know how this will work, but please, for tonight just come home with me?” 

“Ok,” she said, smiling at the relief on his face. “We can figure the rest out as we go,” she caressed his cheek. “We’ve got the rest of our lives ahead of us, after all.” 

Diego grinned, pulling her in for another kiss. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment!


End file.
